Inspiration #6

Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness. ~Ray Bradbury

Along Seabreeze Blvd.

Fort Lauderdale has it's share of bars if thats your flavor. We cruised down Seabreeze Blvd in our awesome rental car, ate good food, and walked from bar to bar. They have anywhere from classy with crystal chandeliers to well, Hooters. Beer was a crazy $7 a bottle at most places. But the one place with $3 beer was a place called Sloppy Joes. Unfortunately it was boring there so we hit up Howl At The Moon and carried out the singing theme of the trip. But watch out, on your lovely stroll back to the hotel you may witnessed the making of Sex On The Beach. No no, not the drink, an actual show. Ya know, if they get prison time in Dubai for that, it should at least get some community service here. Thanks Fort Lauderdale for that wonderful image we can't get out of our heads.

Rain Rain Go Away

After our snorkeling trip we decided to spend the rest of the day getting sun on the beach. Well after an hour and a half of me frolicking in the water like a little kid, lightning struck and the clouds rolled in. It made me think, does the rule for lightning and pools the same for lightning and the ocean? Disappointed that our beach time was cut in half, we ran for it and took shelter at an outdoor bar for some beer. Oh and then the bar shut down...because of the storm. Dumb. Isn't that what outdoor bars are for?

Lack of a Sea Experience

So at some point all three of us decided to fish out the local snorkeling company. The only one in the area that sounded as if it had potential was Sea Experience. Lets just say it wasn't such a great experience. Actually, the snorkeling part of it sucked. My friend Sarah had never been snorkeling so we tried to not ruin it for her. First off we waited for a good hour to get started. They then gave us a tour through mansion valley were people like Tomkat and Tiger Woods live. That part was okay. Then there was the wonderful glass bottom boat experience.....or lack there of. I think I was able to point out some awesome blocks of cement! Oh and I forgot to mention the bus load of somewhat special kids that were on our boat. This one girl insisted on getting past my seat and sitting oddly close to me while talking to herself the whole time.

But I had hope it would get better, it had to. I then realized that we were never asked for shoe sizes for out fins. Crap, we were being given the one size fits all adjustable kind. No good! Then flotation devises? No! I gathered my group to the front to be the first in the water because there was no way I'd be waiting behind school bus kids. We get in and search for fish and coral......and search....and search. Not much to look at. So I just practiced my Michael Phelps swimming skills the whole time with crap flippers against one heck of a hard current.

Before this trip, we had a joke about 'hitting on a boat caption' (inside joke from Belize boat captions). Well, halfway through the swim my friend Erika ran head on into the Sea Experience boat caption while snorkeling. They both popped up yelling "ohhh man ouuuch!" with damaged foreheads. The boat caption exclaimed back "that has never happened to me before!" Well, she hit on her boat caption. Didn't really suprise me - he was kinda a dudebro

In the end it was fun but not the best snorkeling. I was glad I was the first off the boat because those kids had maybe 5 minutes swim time due to their slowness. All I can say is save your money and don't take this little trip. And to top it all off, I once again got motion sick and my friends took pictures. Go figure.

Bienvenido a Florida

The second day in Florida was beautiful. The sun was hot, the water was warm, and my body was soaking it up. The warm breeze hitting my face in a way sang me to sleep. Low flying planes zoomed by with attached banners advertising party cruises, volleyball players pranced around their nets, and Sheraton employees spoke with their hot accents while propping up umbrellas. Minus the old wrinkly man wearing a speedo and grabbing himself every 2 minutes with his legs wide open, you would be jealous.

No Longer First Class Virgin

Even though this entry about my Florida trip is about 4 months over due, I thought I'd take a stab at it even though the details are a bit foggy.

It all started when I scored the chance to fly first class and only pay 1/2 the price of a economy class seat. My two friends and I were all pumped to leave the stress of the advertising world and just beach it up all weekend long and have a girls getaway. Unfortunately we got to the airport and had a snag right off the bat - we were told by the man at the ticket counter that there was no chance we would get out of Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale so we should just go home. I said "heck no, I'll take the chance of sleeping in Atlanta if we don't make it." So off we went! The flight there included many hours of sitting on the tarmac not moving. We thought for sure we missed our connecting flight. So we ran through the airport and made it just before the plane left the dock. Thank goodness.

This next leg was my turn to sit first class and chat it up with my friend Erika (Sarah and I switch classes every leg). And because the ticket was free we totally took advantage of the free drinks! After being smashed up against a lady in the back of the plane blabbing about how she just got out of jail for hours, I was ready to drink. So after about 3 Roman Cokes the Flight Attendant asked me, "Do you fly with us often? I think I know you." I said "nope." And she continued to insists that she did. She then talked about us and pointed us out to her coworkers. Were we being loud drunks? Did I have this continuing drunk grin on my face? Who knows. But then she came over after our 4th drink and said "I added extra liquor in this one for ya, I'm so proud of you ladies."

Soon the ocean was in view from the sky and we said our goodbyes to the flight attendant and were off to rent a car. Problem was, who was going to drive? Empty stomachs + booze + 4 am = ooops. So we got past the big man giving us the car keys and we headed to the hotel - the Sheraton Yankee Clipper. And get this, the hotel was shaped like a cruise ship. Not even joking.

We then topped off the night running around on the beach at 5 am yelling, "We made it!"

Big Bertha

Old big Bertha tried to give us a little scare. She was heading toward Florida earlier yesterday. Now today she is getting smaller and heading on North where she belongs. I pretty much showed her whats up. Now I just have to hope for no rain. For a minute I thought I had jinxed myself making jokes about hurricanes spoiling our fun....oops.

Girlfriend Getaway

I'm at it again. It may not be an international trip but it shall be great. I'm leaving the office and hoppin on a plane in a couple of days to continue my love affair with the beach...this time in Florida. I'm ready to lay back, listen to the crashing waves, meet new people, knock back a couple cold ones, read a good book, be in new surroundings, party, do more snorkeling, and just stay busy doing nothing.